The number of Poles willing to receive pay-TV services is falling.
According to Gazeta Prawna, although the total is shrinking by only an annual 2%, the trend is likely to continue for a number of years to come.
At the same time, the amount paid by existing subscribers is continuing to increase.
Gazeta Prawna estimates the value of the Polish TV market in 2014 to have been over PLN12 billion (€2.86 billion).
Of this, PLN7.6 billion was derived from fees paid by subscribers, over PLN3.8 billion from advertising and PLN750 million from receiver licence fees.
DTH services accounted for the lion’s share of the pay-TV market, with Cyfrowy Polsat and nc+ having a combined 5.7 million subscribers.
Some 1 million are based overseas and the two platforms turn a blind eye with regards to author’s rights of their content received outside Poland.
Significantly, it appears the DTH market is shrinking by around 2% a year, with most subscribers who churn moving to DTT services.
Meanwhile, Poland’s cable industry, though dominated by a handful of large players, is still served by around 500 operators.
Pay-TV penetration in Poland stood at around 78% in 2014 and is expected to increase to 81% by 2016.
However, this does not necessary mean that more homes will be receiving services as some will opt for several.
DTT poses a threat to both DTH and cable, with subscribers currently receiving lower end packages increasingly opting for the 21 FTA channels currently available terrestrial.
This will increase to nearly 30 with the launch of the eighth multiplex.
DTT viewership increased by five percentage points in 2014 and terrestrial services are currently viewed in 30% of Polish homes.
